Australian couple John Kan and his partner Rachael Evans were travelling in Canada when something unexpected happened. Their daughter Piper was born early. Very early, at 26 weeks. She was placed in neo natal intensive care at a hospital in Vancouver but the bill was huge, as the Daily Telegraph initially reported.

Canada is very strict about its ‘baby tourism’ problem, where couples from poorer nations attempt to have their babies born there to obtain citizenship.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Bob Carr has stepped in to see what help might be able to be offered.

The seven-month-old Piper will be a dual Australian and Canadian citizen and when she is two, her parents Rachel Evans and John Kan plan to apply for their baby’s Canadian passport.

Ms Evans said she was grateful for help from Mr Carr’s office. “It means a lot to us, the main thing for us is we were happy taking it on ourselves and doing what we could, we don’t feel our mistake was someone else’s responsibility but obviously it is quite a large amount so any assistance we can get would be helpful,” Ms Evans said.

The couple has taken out travel and extras insurance without realising they weren’t covered for pregnancy or birth and have been paying the bill off at a rate of $300 a month.

A study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences has found a link between high numbers of Facebook friends and self obsession.

The researchers, from Western Illinois University, discovered two social factors of narcissism – grandiose exhibitionism and entitlement/exploitativeness.

Grandiose exhibitionism (GE) is characterised by ”self-absorption, vanity, superiority, and exhibitionistic tendencies” and people who score high on this aspect of narcissism need to be constantly at the centre of attention.

The entitlement/exploitativeness (EE) aspect includes “a sense of deserving respect and a willingness to manipulate and take advantage of others”.

Naturally, it shows Justin Bieber getting the living daylights punched out of him. As you do. The shoot was for a feature with Complex Magazine about growing up:

“The typical growing pains of adolescence are different under the microscope of fame. Scooter [Braun, his manger] recalls a conversation they had about drugs: “He called me and said ‘Do you know why I’m never going to do that stuff? Because I know you’d walk in and beat the shit out of me.’” Bieber says he’s never even smoked a cigarette in his life. Most of the “pushing back” has to do with wishing for a more ordinary life. “He doesn’t like being famous,” Braun explains. “He struggles with not being normal. I’m constantly telling him, ‘You’re not normal, and since you’re living an extraordinary life, I’m holding you to extraordinary standards.’”

The Prime Minister’s controversial ‘watered down’ Mining Resources Rent Tax (MRRT) which requires a 30 per cent tax to be paid on coal and iron ore profits when they climb above $75 million per year has passed its final vote in the Senate. It’s a less aggressive tax than former PM Kevin Rudd tried to have passed which helped lead to his removal as leader of the Federal Labor Party.

His tax would have been more broadly applied and charged at 40 per cent.

Ms Gillard says the $11 billion raised by her tax over the next three years will be used to fund increases to superannuation, infrastructure and a one per cent tax cut for other businesses.